Leah Frothen has returned home. But she can scarcely catch her breath before she is summoned by regent Darien Serlast, the man who made her a spy. Leah is reluctant to take on a new assignment, but Darien has dangled the perfect lure to draw her in…
Leah finds she enjoys the challenges of opening a shop catering to foreign visitors, especially since it affords her the opportunity to get to know Mally, the child she abandoned five years ago.
But when the regent asks her to spy on ambassadors from a visiting nation, Leah soon learns that everyone—her regent, her lover, and even her daughter—have secrets that could save the nation, but might very well break her heart.

Years ago Leah left Welce under mysterious circumstances. She fled to a neighboring country where she was recruited to spy for Welce. In this series we first meet her in book three. Now, because of the events in that book she is going home, but she isn’t able to escape spying as easily as she thought.

Each of the countries in this world have specific religions and magical systems. I love the Welce system. It is based on elemental affiliation. If I had to pick one magical land from any book I’ve ever read to live in, it would be Welce. It is fairly calm and peaceful and I love the magical system.

The Karkans are on a diplomatic mission to try to find an ally in Welce. They have a very strict system of morality. They believe that they need to atone for any wrongdoing. However, they believe that if they atone properly and even in advance, there are no consequences to any behavior. This leads to huge acts of charity that they feel allows them to do anything evil they want. The ruler of Welce thinks that they are up to no good when huge anonymous donations start to show up in temples. Leah is in charge of finding out what they are doing to do.

If you are interested in the series don’t start with this book. This is a series that you should read in order from the beginning in order to properly understand the world and all the people in it.

If you could pick any magical place to live, where would it be?

About Sharon Shinn

“I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in.” from her website